Leverage growth and stability of IMF programme - Prof. Quartey

Professor Peter Quartey, Director for the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), says businesses will have to mitigate the negative effects of the IMF Programme while leveraging on its growth and stability.

He said businesses would have to consider diversifying their revenue streams to reduce their reliance on any one source of income.

Professor Quartey made these remarks at the second edition of the “Chamber National Dialogue Series” organised by the Ghana National Chamber of Commerce (GNCCI) on the theme: “Mitigating the

Negative Impact of Ghana’s IMF Programme on Businesses.”

The platform provided valuable insights and strategies to protect the private sector against adverse consequences.

lt is to provide expert analysis and understanding of Ghana’s IMF Programme 2023, explore the possible risk and identify opportunities in the programme for businesses and offer strategic approaches for businesses to capitalise on the opportunities presented by the programme.

“This could involve offering new products or services, expanding into new markets, or creating partnerships with other businesses,” he added.

He said businesses should focus more on increasing efficiency to maximize their profits and this could involve streamlining their operations, improving their inventory management, or adopting new technologies to automate tasks.

The Director of ISSER said in the IMF programme, there was a limit to employment and that it was the private sector that needed to expand to employ the youth.

“If the environment is not good for the private sector to flourish, we are going to create a huge number of unemployed graduates leading to all kinds of social vices,” he added.

Professor Quartey called on the government to ensure efficient means of revenue mobilisation rather than continuously rolling out new taxes which end up confronting existing business challenges.

He urged the government to consider expanding the tax net to rope in all Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and implement a friendly tax policy to enable them to comply.

Mr Clement Osei-Amoako, President of the GNCCI, said it was worth noting that a combination of external shocks and self-inflicted domestic challenges through excessive borrowing and spending had plunged the Ghanaian economy into severe economic difficulties over the years.

He said the economic difficulties had resulted in high levels of uncertainties, loss of access to the international money market, downward credit rating, dwindled investor confidence, high inflation, weak local currency, high policy rate translating into the high cost of borrowing, unsustainable debt, and impaired economic growth.

Mr Osei-Amoako urged the government to carefully examine the sectoral contribution to Gross Domestic Product and not overly emphasise the reported 4.2 per cent growth in the first quarter of 2023.

“It is important to note that this growth is primarily driven by unproductive sectors such as public administration, defence and social security, health, and education,” he added.

The GNCCI President said immediate measures were necessary to safeguard and promote domestic businesses and the private sector, and that it was crucial to prevent any adverse effects on the government’s efforts to accelerate industrialisation, boost exports, generate employment, and achieve sustainable growth.

He called on the government to work with the Central Bank to find innovative ways of addressing the high inflation in the economy to enable businesses to secure funds for expansion and recovery from the impact of COVID-19.

“The Government should find a lasting solution to the impasse with Independent Power Producers as any power cut will severely affect businesses,” he said.

Mr Osei-Amoako said the government should find ways of increasing the efficiency of the tax administration and expanding the tax net instead of introducing new taxes and increasing the tax rate.

Mr Michael Boateng, Associate Director, Tax Advisor Service, KPMG, said the IMF deal impacted positively on businesses, where the stability in Ghana’s Cedi against other major currencies was expected to help mitigate the exchange losses that businesses had experienced in recent times.

“It would also restore confidence in the economy by addressing inflation and other things,” he added.

Mr Boateng indicated that increases in taxation, increases in the cost of utilities, high cost of financing, and fall in demand were negative ways the IMF deal would impact businesses.

He said to ensure that the adverse effect of the IMF deal on businesses was mitigated, there was the need for effective utilisation of resources, management, and optimising operations.